1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information recording and reproducing apparatus for recording a television program selected by a tuner on the apparatus side into a recording medium or for reproducing the television program recorded in the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the improvement for ultra high definition of a television receiver connected to a hard disk drive or an optical disk drive as an information recording and reproducing apparatus is remarkably advanced by the progress in liquid crystal panel manufacturing techniques, and video data with a very large amount of information can be displayed at high definition. In the television receiver as stated above, in order to cause very large video data and audio data to be transmitted from the information recording and reproducing apparatus, an interface called HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) is used.
The HDMI is an interface for transmitting video data and audio data from an information recording and reproducing apparatus to a receiver equipment such as a television receiver or a projector. The HDMI is an extension of DVI (Digital Visual Interface for Computer) Ver 1.0 of a conventional standard. Specifically, the DVI is an interface of a standard for transmitting only video data, whereas the HDMI is an interface of a standard in which audio data and other data, in addition to video data, can also be transmitted through a single cable. Further, the HDMI can transmit high quality multi-channel audio data and high resolution video data of various formats.
The HDMI can also be used for transmitting various types of information (monitor information, for example, an EDID data structure, etc.) by DDC (Display Data Channel) communication. The EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) includes resolution that a receiver equipment can receive, audio stream information, speaker information of an HDMI reception unit and the like. Besides, the HDMI can transmit video data and audio data through a single cable, and has a merit that the inconvenience of connecting plural cables is eliminated. For example, in the case where content in CSS (Content Scrambling System) is outputted from the information recording and reproducing apparatus, the HDMI is an interface of a standard approved by CPAC (Copy Protection Advisory Council).
The DDC is a name of a communication format and is a line used for transmitting display conditions of video data and conditions of audio data as well as other data relating to an HDMI monitor to the information recording and reproducing apparatus. The DDC is connected to a communication line in the information recording and reproducing apparatus, and is used for establishing a line between the information recording and reproducing apparatus and the HDMI monitor. The CSS is a system for encoding data and recording it, and for decoding it at the time of reproduction.
In the case where a television program is recorded (picture-recorded), a hard disk capable of recording a large amount of data is often used. In the case where it is desired to previously perform a record reservation (picture recording reservation) of the television program in order to record the television program into the hard disk, the hard disk drive conventionally has a record reservation function to perform the record reservation of the television program.
In the case where the record reservation of the television program is performed using this record reservation function, the user operates a remote control to cause an electronic program guide (EPG) to be displayed on a display device, selects the television program to be record-reserved from the electronic program, and performs a decision operation, so that the record reservation of the television program is completed. Besides, the record reservation can be performed using a G-code displayed in the detailed contents of the electronic program guide or a G-code included in a program guide on a news paper or the like.
The same television program is usually repeated on the same day every week, and there is a case where the user desires to watch or to reservation-record a favorite television program every week. For example, the user watches or reservation-records a television program A on Thursday, the broadcast time zone of which is 7:00 to 8:00 and the channel of which is channel 2, and watches or reservation-records a television program B on Thursday, the broadcast time zone of which is 8:00 to 9:00 and the channel of which is channel 4. Besides, the user watches or reservation-records a television program C on Friday, the broadcast time zone of which is 7:00 to 8:00 and the channel of which is channel 10, and watches or reservation-records a television program D on Friday, the broadcast time zone of which is 9:00 to 10:00 and the channel of which is channel 8. Besides, the user watches or reservation-records a television program E on Saturday, the broadcast time zone of which is 5:00 to 6:00 and the channel of which is channel 6.
For example, in the case where the user watched or reservation-recorded the television programs A, B, C, D and E in the last week, there is a case where the user desires to watch or reservation-record the television programs A, B, C, D and E also in this week. In brief, there is a case where the user desires to watch or reservation-record the same television program every week. However, in the information recording and reproducing apparatus of the related art, even in the case where the same television program is reservation-record every week, the record reservation must be made using the electronic program guide or the G-code, and accordingly, the operation of the record reservation is troublesome, and in the case where the record reservation is forgotten, there is a problem that the television program that is watched every week can not be watched.
Then, a recording apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2006-49938 is structured such that channels of programs watched from the present time to one week before are stored every hour, and further, channels of programs watched from one week before to two weeks before are stored every hour, and in the case where programs of the same channel are watched on the same day of the week and at the same time of day in the period from the present time to one week before and the period from one week before to two weeks before, the programs of the channel are recorded.
However, in this recording apparatus, although the channels of the programs watched from the present time to one week before are stored every hour, there is a case where even if the user desires to watch a program from the present time to one week before, the program can not watched because of user's circumstances, and in this case, there is a case where the user desires to picture-record (record) a program, which the user desires to watch, by picture recording reservation (record reservation). Thus, in the case where the watching of a desired program is forgotten in the period from the present time to one week before or in the case where the picture recording by the picture recording reservation is performed, when only the process as in this recording apparatus is performed in which the programs of the channel are recorded in the case where the programs of the same channel are watched on the same day of the week and at the same time of day in the period from the present time to one week before and the period from one week before to two weeks before, it can not be said that the program desired to be watched every week can be recorded without fail.
Incidentally, in a channel selection receiving device and a channel selection method disclosed in JP-A-2006-13840, it is determined whether or not there is a channel selected on the same day of the week and in the same time zone of the last week, and in the case of yes, the channel is selected. However, it is not disclosed that a program desired to be watched every week is recorded by an information recording and reproducing apparatus such as a hard disk drive.